Chapter 3Fluttering Wings

On the way to Ethan’s family home, he was silent for so long I almost forgot he was in the back seat.

The truth is, I knew where the old house was. We had once kissed in front of its ivy-covered iron gate, a desperate, breathless tangle of limbs. He had cupped my face in his hands. “Valerie, can you feel how much I like you?”

If it was all an act, why were his eyes filled with starlight? It was a real loss to the world of theater that he hadn’t pursued a career on the stage.

A soft chuckle came from the back seat. “Valerie, are you really this cheap? You graduated from a top-tier prep school. Go ask your classmates if any of them would be caught dead earning less than twenty grand a month. And you sell yourself for a measly eight?”

I didn’t say anything.

What was there to say?

That thanks to him, my father, upon learning of my unwed pregnancy, had gone out drinking, stumbled into traffic, and been killed?

That my mother, unable to bear the shock, had lost her mind?

That I had never made it to my first day of college, my admission rescinded?

He would be thrilled to know all that. He hated my family that much.

I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction.

When I didn’t respond, Ethan kicked the back of my seat. “Say something, damn it!”

Fearing an accident, I pulled the car over to the side of the road.

“Ethan,” I said, my voice weary, “what do you want me to say?”